Host Cationic Antimicrobial Molecules Inhibit S. aureus Exotoxin Production
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: Staphylococcus aureus causes large numbers of both relatively benign and serious human infections, which are mediated in large part by the organisms' secreted exotoxins. Since 1921, it has been known that lysozyme and, as shown later in the 1900s, other innate immune peptides, including human neutrophil α-defensin-1 (HNP-1) and human β-defensin 1 (HBD-1), are either not antistaphylococcal or are only weakly inhibitory to growth. Our study confirms those findings but, importantly, shows that at subgrowth inhibitory concentrations, these positively charged innate immune peptides inhibit exotoxin production, including both hemolysins and the superantigen toxic shock syndrome toxin-1. The data show that the principal activity of innate immune peptides in the host is likely to be inhibition of exotoxin production required for staphylococcal mucosal or skin colonization rather than growth inhibition.
Source: mSphere
Language: English
Subfield: Microbiology
Field: Immunology and Microbiology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,500
Funders: University of Iowa, U.S. Public Health Service, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
OpenAlex ID: W4313488656